By AZ Mirror
Environmental advocates fear the Trump administration’s decision to stop regulating greenhouse gas emissions will have a disastrous impact on Arizona, which has suffered worsening heatwaves — and it’s unclear what the state can do, although at least one elected official hasn’t ruled out taking the federal government to court.
On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin announced that its 2009 endangerment finding has been “terminated.” The policy was a result of a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case which concluded that the agency has the authority to weigh in on greenhouse gas emissions that negatively impact public health, and has been the backbone supporting emissions regulations for vehicles, airplanes, power plants and other major pollutant contributors.
President Donald Trump’s move to eliminate it is in line with his plans to roll back climate change regulations on the auto and fossil fuel industries. In 2024, Trump promised fossil fuel company executives that he would scrap environmental rules to help them make more money if they raised him $1 billion to win his presidential campaign.
The move to repeal the endangerment finding is expected to face lawsuits when the final rule is published, and Arizona may end up being one of the litigants. During a Friday morning news conference criticizing the federal agency’s announcement, Kirsten Engel, the chief of the environmental protection unit in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, said legal action is one of several paths being considered. Engel said that AG Kris Mayes views the elimination of the endangerment finding as “unlawful and misguided” and in direct contradiction of the agency’s core purpose to protect Americans.
“The attorney general opposes it and considers that every option that her office has is on the table in response,” she said.
